The Lions number one and captain of the team, Kauko Nieminen has been ruled out of Leicester’s Premier League fixture against Sheffield at home on Saturday. Nieminen, injured his knee during a fall whilst riding for his Swedish club Rospiggarna at the beginning of July which he further aggravated seven days later at Coventry when racing for Belle Vue in an Elite League match.
“Kauko had a scan on Tuesday and today he received the results which confirmed that he does not require surgery. It is a relief for Kauko and good news indeed for us as we feared the worst. His absence would have left a massive void in the team in terms of his scoring and leadership qualities” commented the Lions Co-promoter, Alan Jones.
Nieminen, is having a brace made to support his knee and is planning to practice in Finland before returning in time to take his place at the head of the team for Leicester’s home fixture a week on Saturday against Scunthorpe. It is not so good news for Alex Edberg who also picked up an injury whilst competing in the Swedish League. The free scoring Lions reserve rider is likely to be out of the side for a further two weeks and Team Manager Glyn Taylor is searching for a replacement for Saturday’s meeting.
In the meantime David Howe will deputise for Nieminen on Saturday and it will be the first occasion that the former British Under-21 Champion has ridden for his home town club since the sport returned to Leicester in 2011. Sheffield are also going through a spate of injuries which has disrupted their team planning. The visitors are missing Simon Stead who broke his leg during a practice session last month and he will be replaced by Nick Morris who last rode at Leicester for his club the Somerset Rebels. Morris was unbeatable that night and Somerset went on to break Leicester’s long sequence of home wins that stretched back to August 2011. The Tigers are making one further change as their young reserve Damien Koppe is also ruled out and his place is taken by James Sarjeant who rides for Coventry’s National League team.
